This week, Dominika Roza Frycz, an office clerk from Mainz has become one of the first individuals in Germany to receive the world’s first medically approved 3D printed multi-grip bionic arm. 

The 25-year-old was born without a left arm, and throughout her life always found prosthetics more of a hindrance than a support. In her adulthood, Dominika has been looking for a solution to support with simple two-handed activities like holding a bag and phone.

Dominika secured funds for her Hero Arm under the national state insurance ‘I can’t believe how smooth and quick the process was. I’ve been waiting for technology like this all my life, and all of a sudden in three months, there it was, this custom piece of technology made just for me.’ 

Watch Dominika Get a Hero Arm

After her Hero Arm fitting consultation with an Upper Limb Prosthetist Mike Unmacht (CPO at local Lammert Scherer GmbH), within a few hours Dominika transitioned from living with no right arm for over two decades, to being able to open a soft drink and pour it into a glass without assistance. Dominika reflected on what it was like to use both hands at the same time “It feels like I’ve always had two hands. I would never have imagined it like this before, but it’s a great feeling!”

Unlike Dominika’s previous prostheses, which were heavy and very limited in functionality, her Hero Arm uses myoelectric sensors which detect underlying muscular contractions generated from specific muscle groups in his arm. These are then amplified and converted to intuitive and proportional bionic hand movements.

Samantha Payne MBE, Co-founder of Open Bionics commented on Dominika’s experience: “We’re thrilled to be able to offer our technology in Germany and hope Dominika with her Hero Arm will enjoy day-to-day activities like pouring a soft drink into a glass or holding her coffee and her bag at the same time.”

Also in attendance at the first Hero Arm fitting in Mainz was British Consulate General, Düsseldorf Nick Russell, who was also able to see how the technology worked by trying to control the Hero Arm technology using his arm muscles. Nick commented “This is a truly heroic partnership between Lammert Scherer and Open Bionics. Germany and Britain lead the way in Europe on number of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) graduates. Today we saw a real-life example of how British-German life sciences cooperation is not only inspiring incredible innovation, but helping to improve peoples’ lives.”

If you are based in Germany and would like to book a Hero Arm demo please register interested here.